FAQ Maintainance: Orpheus Internet Ltd for Argonet
and also in memory of

John Aldred (RIP)

sometime maintainer of argonet.acorn.voyager FAQ

This edition, including latest changes, is current
from: Wednesday, 20 July 2011
--------------------------------------------------

Welcome to Orpheus and to Argonet..

We trust that the following Newsgroup FAQs are helpful.
These FAQs, or (F)requently (A)sked (Q)uestions, try
to answer a few of the things most often asked about
our developing range of private Argonet newsgroups.

WHAT is a FAQ?

A FAQ is a body of frequently asked questions with
answers. This 'newsgroup' FAQ does not attempt to
answer all questions but those answers most likely
to be needed by a newcomer to the group. It may
also be a reminder to those who post regularly...

ARE there other Orpheus and Argonet FAQs?

Yes.. :))

Although presently being adjusted to take into
account various changes of server(s), sites and
access configurations, the Orpheus and Argonet
general and technical FAQs will continue to be
available.

These will be introduced in the same web-based and
newsgroup format that has been used successfully
by Orpheus and Argonet over the years.

However, for the next few weeks, further information
regarding Orpheus and Argonet continues to be availabe
from the Orpheus Services website and homepage at:

The general FAQs, prepared by 'Foggy', (Rich Foster),
are interesting and informative guides to many of the
technical.. and not so technical.. questions that you
may have. It's possible that the answer has already
been prepared and is part of a FAQ.

Using FAQs can save you a lot of time... and saves
everyone else having to post the same answers to the
same questions time after time after time.

WHAT if I don't quite understand all these FAQs?

Don't worry, you are not expected to be a 'dyed in the
wool' techie. Try and ask your question in an
appropriate newsgroup and usually a knowledgeable
Argonaut will attempt to answer your question.. or help
you to find an answer if no-one has that answer.

WHO is this newsgroup for?

This newsgroup, (argonet.acorn.voyager), is an ArgoNet
newsgroup for Members of the ArgoNet ISP particularly
using machines developed, derived from or manufactured
by Acorn Computers, Cambridge, UK and using the RISC OS
and any derivative range of operating systems.

WHAT is this newsgroup for?

This newsgroup, (argonet.acorn.voyager), is ONLY for
any machine or computer related discussion directly
involving the Voyager group of applications.

WHY is this newsgroup labelled as 'argonet....'?

This newsgroup is a newsgroup set up particularly for
the use of Members of ArgoNet.. also known as 'The
Family Argo'.

IS this newsgroup available to other ISPs?

Clients of ISPs other than ArgoNet may also have limited
access to this newsgroup if they have an arrangement with
or belong to our backbone Provider, UUNET UK. However it
is not expected that any such contributor will interfere
with ArgoNet discussions in a detrimental manner. If an
individual attempts to do so they may be removed at any
time by their ISP.

ARE my contributions archived?

It is possible that all your article postings may be
harvested by internet archivers. One such is Google
which is at:

Google aims to archive all newsgroup postings made
on the Internet... and is a rich source of the thread
titles and back articles of people's individual
contributions posted from and to anywhere throughout
the world.

You should understand that all your news postings may
be archived and retrievable by anyone at any time. It
is your responsibility to take care in that which you
post.. electronically transmitted comment can and has
been used as acceptable evidence in a Court of Law and
upheld on Appeal.

IS there anything I can't post?

This newsgroup's Charter states that the newsgroup
does not allow any posting that does not apply the
Rules of Netiquette or falls outside the spirit
of an all-age supportive family newsgroup.

Of course, you are not expected to post anything
that is illegal in terms of our country's Laws, abusive,
offensive, or extremely and deliberately hurtful to
anyone. Take care... if you do Argo might request
that you find another ISP!

Sometimes contributors make personal 'aside' comments
or 'in-jokes' to each other that have little general
interest to the readers of a particular thread.
Unless there is a specific reason for these comments
that will be relevant to all contributors, you are
asked not to make bandwidth wasting and therefore
occasionally annoying posts to the newsgroup.
You are asked to consider using IRC and/or your email
facilities for such private comments.

You should not post any binary attachments except to
argonet.acorn.binaries which is the newsgroup set aside
for this purpose. You should not post anything of a
discussional or conversational nature to the binaries
newsgroup.

DO I need to prepare postings in any way?

Not really... unless it's to check that you really do
mean to say just what you have said!

If you are posting a binary attachment to the binaries
newsgroup, then you should make sure that all files
are archived into a single file with ArcFS, SparkFS,
PackDir or PKZip and are no larger than 50K.

WHAT does an 'all-age supportive family' mean?

Argo members range in age from less than 10 years
old to more than 80 years old. We are all part of
a supportive family known collectively, as much in
fun, as "The Family Argo".

WHERE do I get the 'Rules of Netiquette'?

There are several places to get these 'rules'.
One of the best places is to use the ZFC web
site:

where Richard Travers, ZFC, has prepared and posted
a very amusing set of 16 'Commandments'. You may
also get 'rules' from:

news.newusers

ARE there any other Argo newsgroups that I can
subscribe to?

Yes! At the moment there are twelve available
newsgroups including one moderated newsgroup
for announcements.

These are:

argonet.announce (moderated)
This newsgroup is for Argo and Argo Members to
make announcements of interest to all Members.
It is a 'moderated' group that generally you
won't be using. If you have something of
interest you may ask Argo to make an announcement
for you.

argonet.acorn.assist
argonet.mac.assist
argonet.pc.assist
These 'assist' newsgroups are for all general
questions, answers and discussions about computer
matters,or anything to do with the computing scene.
Even though there are many real experts in these
groups, the groups are especially welcoming to a
new user. So, if you have a question, don't be
afraid to ask. Someone will give you an
understandable answer!

(You can tell the real 'experts' with years of
experience. They are the ones who try to give
you a clear and simple, easily understood answer
in a friendly way!)

argonet.acorn.binaries
argonet.mac.binaries
argonet.pc.binaries
These 'binaries' newsgroups are for binary attachments
that are of interest to the Argo Family Members.

They are newsgroups where you may attach binary files,
archived into a single compressed file. The files
should be 50k or smaller in size, before any attachment
or encoding.. ie., the total size of the file(s) on
your hard drive.

These are NOT newsgroups for discussion, either of the
binaries posted or any other topic.

You should set the 'followup', (see your Newsgroups
header), to ONE ArgoNet discussion group.

Cross-posting, (where you post to more than one
group at a time), between these 'binaries' newsgroups
and/or ANY other is specifically prohibited.

You are expected to ensure that any binaries that you
may post are not in breach of any laws or copyright(s).
You may be legally liable if you post binaries that are
in breach of any laws or copyright.

argonet.cfc

This group is known as the ArgoNet Climbing-Frame Club,
or argonet.cfc!

It is the ArgoNet newsgroup especially for all young
Argonauts not yet sixteen years of age, although those
older who are just plain young at heart may also join
in, providing they do so supportively.

The newsgroup will continually be supervised by one or
more members of ArgoNet's staff and/or their accredited
representatives.

Parents and Carers of Argonaut Young People are
reminded that they bear the ultimate responsibility
for their Charges use of the Internet and are
expected to ensure an adequate and competent
supervision of their youngster(s).

The newsgroup is platform independent.

The newsgroup is for any discussion about any topic
that is of interest or likely to be of interest to
the younger Argonaut.

The newsgroup is not for general use by adults, nor
for an any discussions of a nature, topic or
advertising usually accepted as 'for adults only'.

The newsgroup will exclude, but not exclusively, any
and all exhortations to continuing discussions by
e-mail, web-mail, 'chat-rooms' or other similar private,
non-public, arrangements elsewhere.

Any such postings will be removed from the newsgroup
without advance notification and will be referred to
the relevant Police and/or other Authorities for further
assessment and investigation.

As a specialist newsgroup particularly with the
younger age group in mind, a set of 'Simple Rules'
will be regularly published setting out the clear
Family expectations of the newsgroup.

The 'Simple Rules' may also contain the clear advice
and helpline freephone numbers of nationally accepted
anti-abuse agents such as 'Childline', or the NSPCC.

Other appropriate and generally accessible educational,
social service or police authority information pertaining
to the safety and welfare of young people may be published
by ArgoNet and/or by their representatives ONLY if such
appears desirable for the particular protection of a
young person, or group of young people.

The newsgroup may be withdrawn without advance notification
for temporary operational reasons - although notice of such
may, when possible, be posted in argonet.noticeboard or the
argonet.*.misc newsgroups.

Posting to argonet.cfc is deemed to be your agreement,
(including your agreement on behalf of your child), both
to and your acceptance of the rules and conditions of use
stated or implied in the Charter for the newsgroup, in the
newsgroups FAQs or in the Rules as published.

If in doubt, please ask any FAQ Poster or Maintainer,
including ArgoNet Support for immediate assistance.

argonet.acorn.misc
argonet.mac.misc
argonet.pc.misc
These 'misc' or 'miscellaneous' newsgroups are for
any discussion about any topic providing a posting
follows the 'Rules of Netiquette' and remembers that
all Argo newsgroups expect to conform to a generally
accepted 'common decency'.

argonet.acorn.voyager
This newsgroup is set aside for discussion
about any and all aspects of Argo's Voyager
group of applications. It is the special
group where you may get... and give.... help
in using these particular applications. The
Voyager Suite of applications are those as
initially supplied by Argo including Email,
Web Browser, Newsgroups, TelNet and FTP.
They may include additional or Third Party
extensions designed to be attached to, or
directly interact with the Voyager Suite.

argonet.noticeboard
This is the specialist ArgoNet newsgroup set aside
for all notices and announcements by and deemed to
be of interest to Argonauts.

It is also the newsgroup in which you can place your
own personal advertising and the commercial advertising
of your own business or of a business in which you are
directly employed.

The newsgroup is platform independent and presently
not moderated.

It is your responsibility as the poster to ensure
that any notice, announcement or advert complies with
all Laws, Regulations or other lawful requirements.

This includes anything listed or implied within
the Acceptable Use Policy of ArgoNet and/or UUNET
and which are in force at the time of your posting.

Please note that any posting which is deemed too large,
excessively frequent, is not lawful or contains matters
that fall outside of a generally accepted 'supportive,
all-age family' context is likely to be cancelled and
removed from the server network without notice.

Please note that this newsgroup, as a specialist
newsgroup may have a set of rules that will be posted
regularly and may be in addition to the FAQs. It is
your responsibility to make yourself familiar with
these rules.

If in doubt, please ask any FAQ Poster or Maintainer,
including ArgoNet Support for assistance.

Posting to argonet.noticeboard is deemed to be your
agreement to and acceptance of the rules and conditions
of use stated or implied in the Charter for the
newsgroup, in the newsgroups FAQs or in the Rules as
published.

argonet.zfc
This is presently the base newsgroup of the
'Zimmer Frame Club', a fun club maintained by
its members and known as the 'ZFC'. All Argo
Members are freely able to join the ZFC. You
may find details on

You may join in any discussion... but
remember... for the moment any mention of
computers is banned!! It is a group where
you may receive... or give... advice and help
for the 'real' world!.. as well as join in
lots of fun...

I'M not sure which group my posting should
go into?

This does sometimes happen! If you really
aren't sure then you can post your article
to argonet.acorn.misc This is the group for
anything that doesn't quite 'fit in'.

If your posting is a file, or files of some
sort, that you wish to attach to a posting then
it may only be posted to argonet.acorn.binaries
and to no other newsgroup.

SHOULD I cross-post my article to all the
groups so that everyone gets it?

No!

Occasionally - that means /very/ occasionally
- there may be a good reason to cross-post an
article to another group. This is very
rare and generally you should not cross-post
at all. Cross-posting.. posting to multiple
newsgroups.. has been classified as 'spam' and
accounts have been terminated.

If your posting is a binary file, then it
must NOT be cross-posted to any newsgroup.
It should be posted only to the appropriate
machine specific argonet.*.binaries newsgroup,
which are the ONLY newsgroup that it may be
posted to.

Most Argonauts connect to the Argo groups
anyway and will see your posting. If it
is really important then, even if they
don't see it straight away, they will find
out pretty soon!

AM I allowed to post pictures and other
sorts of files to any of the newsgroups?

You may post binary attachments (files) to
argonet.*.binaries ONLY. The post may contain
some descriptive notes with and only with that
attachment and followups set to ONE appropriate
private Argonet newsgroup. An announcement may
be made to that same 'followup' newsgroup.

So far as the other non-binary newsgroups are
concerned, sorry, but posting binaries to these
newsgroups is a real 'no-no'! If you want to
send something then you can, to anyone that asks,
by email or by using argonet.*.binaries.
DO NOT post to the newsgroup. Tell whoever wants
it how they can get it from you... you can use the
newsgroup to let everyone know what and how
.. but keep it brief!

WHY, if binaries can be posted to one group,
can't they be posted to the others?

Not everybody wishes to receive binary
postings, which can be time consuming to
download and costly on the 'phone bill. By
setting aside a group specifically for this
purpose, people who do not wish to download
binary postings do not have to do so.

IS there a special ArgoNet newsgroup where I can
advertise?

Yes, there is..

You may place your personal announcements, notices
and adverts in argonet.noticeboard; the newsgroup
especially for advertising. You may also place
commercial announcements, notices and adverts for
your business, or a business in which you are directly
employed.

All adverts should be 'lawful' and come within the
common decency expected by the all-age supportive
family atmosphere of ArgoNet.

Please read any Conditions of Use that are posted
in argonet.noticeboard.

Please remember that electronically transmitted
advertising is subject to scrutiny by both ISPs
and the Advertising Standards Authority, among
others.

CAN I advertise in the other ArgoNet newsgroups?

No.

Except for argonet.noticeboard, the Charters of the
other ArgoNet newsgroups, as very many other newsgroups
throughout the 'net, do not allow advertising for the
sake of it. There are special newsgroups elsewhere on
the 'Net for this.

If you do wish to share some information about something
elsewhere then you can do so. You can either make a
report, being sure that it is of interest to most people..

..(or include your information as an announcement, a
notice or an advert in argonet.noticeboard - the specialist
newsgroup for such matters)!

Please note though that any advertising including 'reports'
of any nature are specifically prohibited in the
a.*.binaries newsgroups.

SOME people have said that I am 'Off Topic'.
What does this mean?

It may mean that you made a comment or tried
to talk about something that had nothing to
do with the conversation or even the newsgroup!

Are you sure you are in the correct newsgroup?
It's no good trying to talk about Argo's Voyager
Application things in the ZFC or any of the 'assist'
newsgroups. They are not there for that!
The Voyager newsgroup, however, is...

I KNOW that I'm in the correct newsgroup, but
some people still say I'm 'Off Topic'...why..?

Each conversation is started by a title known
as the 'subject'.. or 'thread'. When you 'open'
this subject you will see all the replies. Try
to stick to the matter being discussed.

If you want to 'talk' about something different,
you can open your own subject or thread. People
may then join you and talk about your 'topic'.

Enjoy... and don't forget to say 'Thank You' to
anyone who tries to help you. Someday you will
appreciate someone saying the same to you..!